In an effort to promote the integration between international and Flemish students, as well as providing the visiting students with someone local to help them getting settled and ask all kinds of basic and sometimes silly questions to, the International Office of the Catholic University of Leuven started up the buddy programme. This system helps the Flemish students to get matched up with an international student, according to their preferences and specifications.

Imagine yourself arriving in a strange city, cold, alone, tired from travelling thousands of kilometres in an old airplane of dubious quality with too little leg space. You’re leaving the luggage pickup zone, looking around doubtingly. Not really expecting anything from all the family members, waiting for their loved ones, you risk yourself between them. Until suddenly, you hear someone shouting your name! It’s as if the clouds burst open and the angel choir starts to sing, because your loneliness is over.

This representation might be a bit romanticised, but you probably got the gist of it. It is a nice feeling to know someone’s waiting for you – not even necessarily at the airport – that you’re not really starting from nothing in this new place where you’ll be spending five to ten months. Even more if you yourself have been abroad once upon a time, you can imagine the effect.
The buddy programme allows many Flemish students – including yours truly – to assist an international student during their stay. But it’s also an excellent opportunity to get to know a fellow student from another country, maybe even another continent. Since integration can only take place through confrontation, this is a great way to get acquainted with another culture and language. The other way round, your international buddy gets to know our beautiful country in another way than through tourism and education. In fact, it’s being stimulated to take your buddy to your hometown.

The whole procedure is actually quite simple, at least for the students themselves. The Flemish student just has to fill in a form, in which he or she can specify some parameters, like nationality, age, faculty and, of course, gender. After that, you can just sit back, relax and wait for the email to come in. This doesn’t mean the job is done, however. Now the real work begins, the matching of the couples. The person responsible for this academically acknowledged version of an international dating agency is Klaartje Proesmans. She’s the one responsible for finding your one perfect match. It’s quite obvious that this is not in the least bit a simple job, especially because the international students don’t always fit into one of the preference forms. Basically, you can’t all have Swedish blondes and Latino hunks.
Once the match is made, it’s the responsibility of the Flemish student to get into contact with his or her buddy, picking them up at the airport or train station and helping them getting around in Leuven. The work of Klaartje and her assistants is not yet over, though. Because they, together with LOKO International, try to organise special events for the foreign students and their buddies, during which they can get to know each other better. There’s even a huge Buddy Day on the tenth of October, filled with activities and a party to top things off.

Alas, there are still lots of international students who don’t get to be paired up with a Flemish student, because there aren’t enough candidates. But the growing number of successfully formed duos proves that the programme is nevertheless getting more known and more popular amongst local students. And this can only help the visiting international students having a better time at this university. So if you’re a Flemish student reading this and you haven’t gotten yourself an international buddy yet, run to your computer and fill in de form on the university website. Because more buddies are needed every year. |